Calorie Burn- Working at a restaurant?

LishieFruit89

Use a fitbit to track your steps - thats how i knew what i was burning working at a bar. usually for a 7.5 hour shift it'd be 10/12,000 steps and about 4-500 calories. But then i don't burn loads because im small

4-500 calories in 7.5 hours ?

Highly doubt that

Ok well doubt away, i;ll take what my fitbit gave me as my calorie burn for the day thanks :P

Please don't take this the wrong and please correct me if I'm wrong.

But at the bars I've been too (and it's been a while), the bar tenders aren't nearly as active as the waitresses.
Yes, they're moving back and forth but it's in a smaller area and with lighter loads.
So 4-500 makes sense to me in 7.5 hours


Also, to the person who quoting you saying you're incorrect, the OP used the MFP calculator to get that 1000 calorie burn. MFP is notoriously too high in its calorie calculations. So a 4-500 calorie burn as measured by a Fitbit or whatever, is far more accurate than what the OP got with MFP

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

In my opinion, it's healthier to eat some of the foods that have traditionally labeled "unhealthy" while getting an appropriate number of calories than it is to eat nothing except lean meat and veggies but consistently under eat. I'm sure there are those who disagree, but that's my take.

sati18

Please don't take this the wrong and please correct me if I'm wrong.

But at the bars I've been too (and it's been a while), the bar tenders aren't nearly as active as the waitresses.
Yes, they're moving back and forth but it's in a smaller area and with lighter loads.
So 4-500 makes sense to me in 7.5 hours


Also, to the person who quoting you saying you're incorrect, the OP used the MFP calculator to get that 1000 calorie burn. MFP is notoriously too high in its calorie calculations. So a 4-500 calorie burn as measured by a Fitbit or whatever, is far more accurate than what the OP got with MFP

Cheers for the backup as i said to the doubter, fitbit tracked my steps for all my shifts and for the bar I worked at, thats what i burnt. I've found the fitbit very accurate in terms of steps/calories and never had any issues with it.

OP, you need to be eating more on your shifts. Lots of people dont understand how much energy you burn doing restaurant work, especially when it's busy. try your best to bump your calories by a couple of hundred at least x

EvgeniZyntx

my stomach usually feels full though. So though I may feel weak and dizzy, my stomach feels full and satisfied and I don't want to intake the additional food because it will make me feel stuffed.
I don't know if any of you can relate....

I can relate. It's called disordered eating. Get help.

maab_connor

at this point, i'm going to say: print off your food diary and take it to a nutritionist who has a history of helping ppl overcome ED.

the previous "binging problem", the very low weight, and the fact that you don't "feel hungry" even when you're to the point of feeling faint... these all point to long-term issues from the ED you're recovering from. you need a professional who can help you work through this stuff. who can get you to where you're able to eat at a life-sustaining caloric intake. b/c honey, you are not there yet. these things take professionals for a reason. like any other compulsive issue, you don't see the patterns in your life. that's part of the disease. you need that trained third-party's eye.

But I don't have an eating disorder. Compared to most people, I eat like a normal person.
Except for the chocolate addiction haha.

who specifically do you mean by "most people"?

friends, mostly.

If you're eating more than your friends and still only eating 1k calories at most, your friends also have a skewed view of healthy eating and don't have a healthy relationship with food either.

exactly this. we tend to attract sameness into our peer groups. it's a biological thing we do without thinking. when I was an active addict - guess what all my friends were? I would tell myself that as long as I wasn't "as bad as so-and-so" that I didn't have a problem. it's the same with all compulsive disorders.

you have ppl here who are recovering from compulsive disorders - many have told you that they're in recovery from ED - and we're all saying that you're showing disordered thinking. disordered logic.

please seek help.

hamelle2

So much confusion. Why in the world am I striving to meet a 15000 steps per day goal if it doesn't help me burn more calories and lose weight?
Also if it doesn't help maintain muscle why am I so sore from my abs down to my calves?
I guess all I really need to do is jump on an exercise machine for a set amount of time?

EvgeniZyntx

at this point, i'm going to say: print off your food diary and take it to a nutritionist who has a history of helping ppl overcome ED.

the previous "binging problem", the very low weight, and the fact that you don't "feel hungry" even when you're to the point of feeling faint... these all point to long-term issues from the ED you're recovering from. you need a professional who can help you work through this stuff. who can get you to where you're able to eat at a life-sustaining caloric intake. b/c honey, you are not there yet. these things take professionals for a reason. like any other compulsive issue, you don't see the patterns in your life. that's part of the disease. you need that trained third-party's eye.

But I don't have an eating disorder. Compared to most people, I eat like a normal person.
Except for the chocolate addiction haha.

What exactly is your MFP name?

You might, you might not. Discuss with your doctor. Also, you might also not be eating that low. How well do you track?

brock_west_houston

I'm pretty sure working as a server (which I did for 2-3 years and will be looking to pick up again soon) burns considerably more calories than any white-collar job. Maybe not thousands but a significant number. If you're poking around in a lightly occupied establishment with an unfilled two-table station all night, I could see few calories burnt. However, if like me you had anywhere from three, but more likely four to six tables in a busy place with high table turnover, then you're entire shift is a workout.

lacurandera1

haha I rarely eat over 3000 calories. I usually net about 800-1000. Just wondering if I should up that a bit after a 5 1/2 hr shift.

Methinks I have the answer to why you're dizzy and feel weak.

deksgrl

Honey, you are very underweight. Why are you trying to lose more weight? I can guarantee you, it will not make you happier.

Really, see a doctor.

RllyGudTweetr

I can't set it at lightly active because I'm not always working. So on days where I don't have work, I just do light activities, which I would presume would make me sedentary. If you aren't supposed to count work, then why does MFP give you the option to record the amount of calories you burn cleaning?

You do to count cleaning either, or cooking, or just any normal activity. Count actual exercise only.

Please explain, clearly, how 5 hours of physical exertion from work is not burning calories, while 5 hours of gym time is.

Haha my mom is a house cleaner and she logs all of her house cleaning activities separately. So it made sense to me log it separately. But I don't know. Clearly I'm not an expert.

For the record, I agree with you. I think those who claim that only 'intentional exercise' counts often have a poor understanding of how many calories daily activities can burn, and also tend to unintentionally separate out traditionally gender-divided chores into 'exercise/not exercise' based on which gender traditionally filled those roles.

If your daily activity is set to sedentary, then you would be ok logging activities such as cleaning. But, if you do that for a living or if cleaning is part of your daily activity and you've set your activity level accordingly, then, no, you wouldn't log it since it would be double counting the activity.

OP: Please take the advice of others. You don't need to lose more weight.

I recognize we've moved on in the discussion, but for many folks in the restaurant and hospitality industries, the number of hours you work in a given week is no indicator of the number of hours you're working the next week, or the week after. For those folks, it's probably most accurate to set activity at 'sedentary' and log individual burns.

SKINNYsupermodel

okay, so I have an eating disorder. I binge, eat like 3000-4000 calories, then eat really low (about 500-1000 cal) a day for a week or so, don't feel hungry AT ALL, then suddenly someone gives me a huge serving of food (usually one of my parents, because they want me to eat more) and it sparks a huge appetite and I eat an enormous amount again. I've gained a couple of pounds (my parents request) but I hate it and I really need the weight to come off. I hate the way I look and would love to lose about 10lbs. So there. You can all help me now, because I don't know what to do. I've been doing this for over half a year. Its so ingrained in my mind that I can't get out of it.

SKINNYsupermodel

Honey, you are very underweight. Why are you trying to lose more weight? I can guarantee you, it will not make you happier.

Really, see a doctor.

Because I hate the way I look. And my doctor has said I'm perfectly healthy. Blood tests done and everything.

DavPul

I can't speak for everyone, but the advice to go see a doctor isn't necessarily to see a medical doctor. Hating the way you look could have more to do with your mental perception of yourself than what you physically look like. If you lost 10 pounds, you'd most likely just want to lose 10 more. And 10 after that.

Please believe me when I say that losing more will not help you feel better about yourself. Look for a therapist that specializes in eating disorders and body dismorphia. I wish you the best.

autumn_skye

Fitbit..it counts your steps and makes adjustments daily in MFP for your steps. So, on the days you are working in the restaurant and are more active, it will give you a calorie adjustment. On the days you just do your desk job, you may not get an adjustment. You may even find that the Fitbit motivates you to get more steps in on your desk-jobs days.

sarafischbach9

Obviously if you were weak and dizzy you needed to eat. Your body needed the extra calories today.

Working at a restaurant and in some retail places can burn a lot of calories. I know tomorrow I will easily burn over 1000 calories doing my 8 hour shift at Costco. Costco on a Saturday is crazy ( Don't go if you can help it )

On my mere two days off ( I am working nearly full time ) I go to school where I am sitting but I also walk around campus. I try to do 90 minutes of exercise ( cardio ) on my days off. And do at least 60 on my work days.

So yes it is very possible you burned 1000 calories in your 5 hour shift!

What you can do is set your activity level to lightly active ( for work ) and add in any other cardio exercises you get in for the week. That's what I do.

SKINNYsupermodel

Costco is awesome!! and yes, absolutely hectic on Saturdays!! I've learnt that the hard way, haha. Thanks for the advice